


The Force Metal Mystic

by Spiceracksargent001 (Phoenix_Champion)



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23519488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_Champion/pseuds/Spiceracksargent001
Summary: Ferham's self-destruction has scattered fragments of Supra-Force Metal all around the world.  At the same time as Enker Magus, the only Giga City survivor to bear ties with Epsilon's Rebellion Army, sets out to keep these fragments out of the wrong hands, Dr. Weil makes his move, sparking the Elf Wars.  Now Enker must fight to keep the fragments of the most powerful substance known to man and Reploid alike out of the madman's vile clutches.





	1. Prologue

The year 22XX…

Earlier that century, a meteoroid had crashed down amidst the Pacific Ocean, bringing with it a strange, alien metal. This metal, named Force Metal by the research personnel attached to the search and recovery units dispatched to the crash site to survey the site, assess any potential damage, and aid civilians affected by the impact, was soon discovered to be a source of vast energy, harnessable by Reploids to grow beyond their basic capabilities. With aid from the world government, the cluster of artificial islands, called Giga City, was constructed with the express purpose of mining and studying this extraordinary substance. All was proceeding well, until the day that changed Giga City’s history…

While investigating the potential use of Force Metal in power generation systems, a researcher at the only mobile island of Giga City, the Melda Ore Processing Plant, stumbled upon a most unusual discovery. Whilst processing a full ton of Force Metal ore at once in an attempt to speed up the refining process, the energies of the Force Metal pieces fused together, and an unusual piece of Force Metal was created. This new Metal, the amalgamation of that ton of Force Metal, had an energy output over 10,000 times that of regular Force Metal, and was thusly named Supra-Force Metal. At the same time as this, the Lagrano Reploid Production Facility, the island responsible for studying the use of Force Metal in Reploid construction, finally developed a brand-new Reploid, designed with the expressed purpose of drawing out the maximum possible potential of Force Metal. This new model of Reploid, dubbed the “Unknown Energy Manipulator: Test Model” by the base staff, chose to take the name Epsilon soon after he was completed. Some of the facility’s crew expressed a small amount of concern due to the naming scheme being similar to the infamous Maverick leader, Sigma, but after a full month without any demonstrations of Maverick behavior in Epsilon, all concerns were shelved, and more Reploids based off of Epsilon’s specs were rolled out, and a modified variant, dubbed the “Unknown Energy Manipulator: Precision Test Model” was drafted for later production to test applications of Force Metal Energy that might require a steadier hand.  
Things began to change when someone had the brilliant idea of attempting to infuse Supra-Force Metal into the Unknown Energy Manipulator Test Model line. Unfortunately, even a Reploid like Epsilon, who was purpose-built to withstand and channel the already awesome power of Force Metal, could only handle so much Force Metal Energy at a time, and most of the Unknown Energy Manipulator units perished or went Maverick and were disposed of before the infusion could be completed. Only the original Test Model, Epsilon himself, survived the process, and evolved into something beyond even his original limits as a Reploid thanks to the immense power of the Supra Force Metal. While the scientists were busy congratulating themselves, however, they failed to acknowledge a warning from the monitoring systems of Epsilon’s pod. It no longer registered Epsilon as the Reploid he’d been when the procedure had started, and registered the change as an error in customization.

Having seen nothing wrong with Epsilon’s behavior after he’d emerged from the pod, however, nobody could have predicted what happened next. His eyes opened to the true potential Supra-Force Metal for Reploid evolution, he gathered Reploids under his banner through his sheer force of character, and then made his opening move. With the backing of Scarface, Ferham, and Botos, three other high-performance Reploids designed to draw out the full potential of specific aspects of Force Metal, he founded and then launched his Rebellion. The human researchers and production staff of the Lagrano Reploid Production Facility, which became the initial staging area for the opening days of Epsilon’s revolution. Epsilon modified his three new Cadres to bodies fit for full-fledged combat while amplifying their Force Metal synchronicity to equip themselves with a single piece of Supra-Force Metal each, the smallest of shards, really. Even with their new bodies, that was the only way they could contain the tremendous energy of Supra Force Metal without suffering damages or turning completely Maverick.  
One of the Reploid researchers stationed at the facility, Dr. Psyche, was brought under Epsilon’s banner soon after with the promise of new avenues of research in Reploid engineering. After being upgraded into a new body fit for combat, Dr. Psyche helped Epsilon modify six other normal Combat Reploids to serve as the Commander’s subordinates, as well as using the original researchers’ blueprints to construct the “Unknown Energy Manipulator: Precision Test Model”, whom Epsilon took under his wing as an apprentice. While the other seven Combat Reploids, Dr. Psyche included, spread themselves out alongside the Cadres to secure the rest of Giga City, Epsilon took his fellow Unknown Energy Manipulator test unit, whom he named Enker Magus, with him to secure their final base of operations at the Grave Testing Facility, an artificial glacier and the single harshest locale in all of Giga City, created as the testing grounds for new Reploid models.

Once most of Giga City was secured, Epsilon rounded up every last human on the artificial island city, his orders were for all who resisted to be captured, rather than killed, and banished them from Giga City, sending them all to the nearest port, which happened to be the city where Far East HQ was located. At the same time, Botos, one of the Cadre, converted the former testing facility on the Onovan Environmental Test Center to jam all inbound and outbound communications, though the takeover damaged the test plate’s environmental control system, causing it to go berserk and permanently terraforming the plate into the Onovan Desert.  
Branding the new Rebellion Army as Maverick, Far East HQ dispatched several Maverick Hunter units to Giga City in an attempt to quell the movement, each one meeting with failure. In a last, desperate attempt to stop the Rebellion without causing a massive stir, Far East HQ’s chief officer, Colonel Redips, dispatched S-Class Maverick Hunters X and Zero, alongside B-Rank Hunter Shadow, to infiltrate Giga City and stop Epsilon. The Hunters arrived at the now ruined Lagrano Reploid Production Facility, only to find it naught but wild Mechanaloids and empty Reploid production pods until they disabled the security on the 3rd floor, after which they were discovered and engaged by Preons, the mainstay troopers of the Rebellion Army after Mach Jentra was placed in charge of the Ulfat Factory, where the Mechanaloids are mass-produced. Upon reaching the fifth, and final, floor of the ruined facility, the Maverick Hunters were confronted by none other than Epsilon himself, whereupon it is revealed that Shadow had already defected to the Rebellion Army. A short, one-sided beatdown of a skirmish with Epsilon, his three Cadres, and the traitorous Shadow, resulted in X and Zero being separated, the latter being blasted clear out of the complex by Shadow before X used a feint to make a desperate escape from such a hopeless situation.  
With Zero’s fate unknown, X is recovered by an underground Resistance movement that opposes the Rebellion Army and brought to New Hope, the Central Tower and administrative sector of Giga City. Despite some early trouble from a Bounty Hunter by the name of Spider, X was able to rescue Chief R, commander of the Resistance as well as overall governor of New Hope itself, and reclaimed the Central Tower, even taking out the Rebellion’s occupation officer, the “Ultra Mobile Bobcat Reploid” Wild Jango, with the aid of a surprise comrade. The Bounty Hunter Spider, who had experienced a change of heart after discovered that his former partner, Aile, had given X his ID with his final sacrifice to aid the Maverick Hunter in rescuing the Chief. Still, even with the base secure, with only three core members to their name, the Resistance needed manpower, and fast.  
Fortunately, from their first official Resistance operation to the old Force Metal Mine at Tiana Island, now the Tiana POW Camp, to the biosteel forests of Professor Gaudile’s laboratory, to the Ulfat Factory, and then the still functional Gimialla Force Metal mine, X and his Resistance allies kept acquiring new fighters to assign to the commando team. The successor to the legendary hero, Steel Massimo, recruited at the Tiana Camp, and his predecessor avenged with the defeat of Silver Horn. The thief Marino and Gaudille’s daughter, the nurse Reploid Cinnamon, rescued from the machinations of Dr. Psyche. The S-Class Maverick Hunter and prototype New-Generation Reploid, X’s old comrade Axl, recruited by happenstance at the Ulfat Factory. Even Zero was found to be alive and well, engaged in combat with the factory’s foreman, Mach Jentra. Still stung by Shadow’s betrayal, however, Zero left after X introduced his old comrades to his new ones, and only joined up permanently after Spider took a hit for Zero on a whim and later sacrificed himself to allow the S-Class Hunters and the other Resistance fighters to escape when Incentas set the research lab at the bottom of the Gimialla Mine to self-destruct.

Still, they weren’t out of the woods yet. Throughout these missions, transmissions to and from Colonel Redips had been sporadic at best, and fraught with interference from the jamming facility situated in the treacherous Onovan Desert. Rebellion Cadre Ferham intercepted the group as they attempted to follow the jamming towers to the entrance of the jamming facility, and trapped them within a pocket of the desert’s quicksand. Believing the commando team to have perished as they sank beneath the sands, Ferham departed, only for it to be revealed to the Cadre operating the facility, Botos, that X and his crew were still alive. Despite using a fragment of Supra-Force Metal to power himself up, Botos was ultimately beaten by the Hunters, and retreated after his Supra-Force Metal fragment had been lost to X and his command team.  
From there, X and his team were dispatched to the Melda Ore Plant, where Supra-Force Metal had been detected. After conducting some reconnaissance within the facility, it is revealed to the Resistance that the Rebellion have converted the plant into a launch silo, where an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile with a warhead of Supra-Force Metal was being assembled and armed. If allowed to launch and detonate successfully, it would see the entire Reploid and Mechanaloid population of half the globe turn Maverick from an overload of ambient Force Metal Energy. They also encountered Botos once again, only for the Cadre to immediately retreat time and again, throwing out decoys as he did so in a vain attempt to throw the Hunters off his trail. As X and his team attempted to reach the top of the silo to diffuse the missile, they encountered Ferham once more, and, after a fierce battle, knocked her out of the sky, where the female Cadre plummets all the way down to the bottom of the silo. Unfortunately, this only set the command team back. In order to access the warhead of the missile, two access keys are needed. One was given to Ferham, who stored the key within her own body. The other was given to Enker, who hid it away for safekeeping. Unbeknownst to Enker, who was away from where he’d hidden his key in order to train further in his abilities, Botos had found where the key given to Epsilon’s apprentice was stored and was long gone with the key in hand by the time the Unknown Energy Manipulator: Precision Test Model got back. By the time the Maverick Hunters got to Ferham once more, Botos had already forcibly ripped the second access key from her body and was already making his way to the warhead to steal the Supra-Force Metal for himself. X and company had immediately made for the top level of the silo, only to find that a mysterious assailant had already scrapped Botos and was long gone with the warhead's payload of Supra-Force Metal in tow by the time the Hunter and his command team got there.

Even with the Supra-Force Metal from the Missile stolen from under everyone’s noses, things were finally moving towards the final confrontation with Epsilon, Colonel Redips preparing his own team of commandos to infiltrate Giga City and hunt down the Force Metal. This revelation was also the exact time that Scarface, the final member of Epsilon’s Cadre, chose to invade Central tower and challenge X to a duel. The Knight-Type Reploid showed the true intent of Epsilon’s revolution, however, due to a distinctly light number of casualties incurred by the regular Resistance forces. Prior to X’s arrival on the scene, Scarface had only attacked in self-defense as he awaited his true opponent, and even went so far as to personally heal those he’d injured before his departure to the Rebellion’s main headquarters: the newly named Grave Ruins Base. X and his team were in pursuit not long after, the three S-Class Hunters leading the charge.

Nothing the Rebellion put in their way could stop the legendary Hunters as they progressed through the facility. Before long, X and his command team had entered the Hall of Glory, Epsilon’s throne room at the end of the Grave Ruins Base. At first, X and his team prepared to confront Epsilon once and for all, before being intercepted by Scarface, who desperately bade Epsilon to flee while he held off the Hunters. As the one who carried the torch of the Rebellion Army, Scarface reasoned, Epsilon could not be allowed to fall to X, even if he himself were to die securing his Commander’s escape. With the combined abilities of X, Zero, Axl, Massimo, Marino, and Cinnamon, Scarface is soon felled, the Knight-type Reploid’s dying breath being a call of glory to Epsilon’s Rebellion. Epsilon, however, only had this to say in response to his right hand man’s undying loyalty to the cause:  
“I see you are determined. But Scarface… I will not run from this fight. For I know that this bridge must be crossed to achieve our ideal. They will tremble before the power… of Epsilon!” And so what the Hunters believed to be their final battle of the Giga City Rebellion began. With the power of the Supra-Force Metal within his body at his disposal, Epsilon was easily the strongest opponent the Command Team had faced thus far. Even X and Zero, now having access to the powerful Ultimate Armor and Absolute Zero armors with the help of Mechanaloids repurposed by the Resistance to sweep areas they’d already cleared, were hard-pressed against the mighty Commander, especially after he removed his own safety limiters and allowed even more of the Supra-Force Metal’s energies to flow through him. In the end, however, the Hunters and their allies, though battered and beaten by the monstrous strength of Epsilon, prevailed, and X proceeded to question why Epsilon created the Supra-Force Metal Missile. Gravely injured from the fighting and the immense energies of his Supra-Force Metal, Epsilon revealed that the missile was only ever meant to be a nuclear deterrent, a means to force the Federation that Epsilon possessed both the means and the power to make his ideals for an independent Reploid nation a reality. He later rebuked X’s insistence that an alternate solution had to exist by pointing out that the Federation had already declared the entire Rebellion Army to be Maverick, and that no alternatives were even viable for consideration after that. In his final act of defiance, Epsilon rose up once more, intending to continue to fight, only to be cut off as X finally ends the Rebellion Army’s valiant Commander with a charged shot, only his Supra-Force Metal surviving the blast. Colonel Redips was on the scene soon after, and, after retrieving the Supra-Force Metal from X, informed the hunters that a transport to return the team to Far East HQ would meet them at the Central Tower.

Back at New Hope, the Resistance members were in celebration at having finally taken down the Rebellion and freed all of Giga City from the tyrannical actions of Epsilon’s more… unstable officers. X was the only one who didn’t join in the celebration, Epsilon’s final words about how he had been given no other choice but to resort to building the Force Metal equivalent of a nuclear missile by the Federation echoing in his memory banks. With new resolve to investigate the reason for Epsilon’s declared status as a Maverick upon his return, X soon gathered his team and the Resistance’s base command staff, and headed up to the helipad for their final farewells before the Hunters left Giga City to officially file their report for the success of their mission. Out at the helipad, the promised transport hovered far overhead, and Chief R took it upon himself to flag down the carrier to deploy a transport to pick up the heroes of Giga City.

It was a set-up. Without any provocation, a turret emerged from the belly of the transport and fired straight down at the center of the helipad, killing Chief R in an instant. Thrown into confusion by the attack, Mechaniloids descended from the transport and opened fire on the hunters and their new allies. After a brief firefight, X in his Ultimate Armor, Zero in his Absolute Zero armor, and Axl helped the rest of the command team commandeer the transport and made their way to Far East HQ, where it is revealed in a base-wide broadcast soon after their infiltration that Redips has declared X a Maverick and traitor who betrayed the Federation for Supra-Force Metal. The sting of betrayal instilling a new anger within him and his allies, X and his command team forgo stealth altogether and storm Far East HQ, only to be met by a familiar; disturbing sight. Wild Jango, alive and raring for a rematch!  
After dispatching the Ultra Mobile Bobcat Reploid for a second time, X can’t help but ponder how this could be possible. It is Axl, fittingly enough, who figures it out first: Jango really had fallen to X and Spider at the New Hope helipad, and the Jango they’d fought just now was a doppelgänger: a New Generation Reploid who had gotten their hands on Jango’s DNA after the fact. Progressing further into Far East HQ, it is revealed that more New Generation Reploids had copied other Rebellion Army officers: Silver Horn, Dr. Psyche’s Mad Nautilus form, Mach Jentra, and Incentas. After dealing with these sociopaths (it was already widely known at this point that the New Generation shapeshifter Reploids bore the DNA of the infamous Maverick leader, Sigma, and, as such, almost universally possessed Maverick traits and tendencies apart from the prototype, Axl), X and his comrades were stopped before they could reach Redips by A-class hunter Depth Dragoon, whom had been swayed to the traitorous Colonel’s banner. After beating the naive Hunter unconscious, X and his team finally confront the power-mad Colonel, who declares himself king of all Reploids and that X, his team, and even the Rebellion, were all just pawns to be used and discarded in his quest to obtain Supra-Force Metal. The legendary son the late Dr. Light outright declared Redips a Maverick in genuine anger before the fight was on. After a troublesome skirmish, Redips was beaten down by the Hunters, with Zero openly expressing his disbelief that the Command Team had lost Chief R and Spider for the sake of the power-hungry Maverick. To everyone’s surprise, Redips just laughs in their faces and shocks the Hunters by revealing that he, himself, was a New Generation Reploid and had been posing as the Spider the whole time X had been working with the Resistance. Redips then openly scorns the hunters, commenting on how irritating it had been to have to play nice with “goody two-shoes” like X, and that the Supra-Force Metal will amplify his shape shifting abilities immensely before departing from the company of the shocked Hunters for the space elevator Babel to prepare for his “upgrade”. For the first time since the Repliforce Rebellion, Zero was left at a loss, unsure of what he had been fighting for. X, understanding the red knight’s turmoil, consoles his closest friend and reminds him that, as Maverick Hunters, it was their sworn duty to protect the Earth from Mavericks like Redips. His resolve restored and hislife’s mission affirmed, Zero rose up once more and was the first to follow X into the orbital elevator.

High above the planet, on the orbital station of the Babel space elevator, X and his team find Redips in a throne-like device, well into the infusion process to incorporate the Supra-Force Metal taken from Epsilon and the Commander’s Missile into his body, declaring that he is about to ascend to god hood and become master of the universe itself. X rebukes Redips as mad, asserting that Epsilon, at least, understood the risks inherent with using Supra-Force Metal, and that the Commander hadn’t been a Maverick from the start like Redips. The Maverick colonel was already too far gone in his power lust, however, and completes the infusion process, becoming the monstrous Great Redips, who proceeds the sweep the floor of the now ruined orbital station with X and his Command Team, their weapons unable to leave any kind of lasting wounds on his body due to the Supra-Force Metals shielding the monster and healing his wounds. It was as Redips prepared to finish of the hunters, thief, nurse, and hero, however, that an unforeseen factor makes itself know. Ferham, the last of the Rebellion Cadres, had followed X to Far East HQ in secret, and, seeing an opportunity, made an attempt for the Supra-Force Metal responsible for repairing Great Redips’ body. In his anger at being touched by an “inferior Reploid”, Great Redips blasted Ferham off of his shoulder, dislodging the Supra-Force Metal at the same time. Gaining their second wind, the Command Team once more engaged the now mortal Great Redips and, drawing upon every last ounce of their individual strengths, putting an ultimate and final end to the Maverick’s delusions of godhood altogether. As debris from the battle crushed the still defiant Colonel’s body, X went to speak to Ferham of what she planned to do with the Supra-Force Metal. Seeking atonement for the Rebellion in her own way, Ferham leapt from the platform to X’s protest and self-destructed, the force of her self-detonation shattering the Supra-Force Metal, the energies creating an aurora visible to all who gazed skyward in that moment while eight fragments fell to Earth. After returning to Maverick Hunter HQ, X arranged for Epsilon to be posthumously cleared of all Maverick charged, the status being transferred to Redips.

Unbeknownst to Ferham, however, she wasn’t the only Rebellion member to survive Giga City. Enker Magus, having beheld the aurora born from her sacrifice, had not missed the re-entry trails of the Supra-Force Metal fragments. He had his own final orders to carry out. Before X, Zero, and Shadow had arrived at Giga City, Epsilon had imparted a special mission onto his apprentice. If anything were to happen to the Commander, Enker’s orders were to take every last scrap of Supra-Force Metal and go underground with it. For all its power, only a select few Reploids could safely harness the full might of Supra-Force Metal. Even trying to contain the energy of a decently-sized fragment of Supra-Force Metal would often prove too great a strain on even the greatest of Combat grade Reploids without multiple neutralizer Force Metals equipped to take the lion’s share of the strain if their bodies hadn’t been specifically engineered for such a high-risk task.

As if simply trying to track down each of the fragments of Supra-Force Metal scattered around the world by Ferham’s self destruct wouldn’t be tricky enough, the world had apparently decided that the day Enker was finally ready to actually depart Giga City for his search was as good a time as any to set itself on fire with the mother of all wars. The Elf Wars alone had the potential to be destructive enough, Enker knew, but with the Supra-Force Metal fragments out there, waiting for some desperate Reploid to stumble upon them, or, heaven forbid, for Dr. Weil to get his scheming claws on the powerful substance, the situation suddenly became a lot more precarious. Either way, Enker knew what he had to do. For better or worse, he was about to wade headfirst into the single bloodiest war the Earth would ever know, and it didn’t matter who stood in his way. One way or another, he would carry out the mission Epsilon had given him all those years ago. The Supra-Force Metal will fall under his protection, and once he had all eight fragments safely in hand, he would ensure that the Metal, and himself, faded from the memory of the world until such a time that he felt it safe to step back into the light.


	2. Mission 1.1

**Mission 1: Secure the Base!**  
-22XX, Amazon Rainforest-

The footfalls of a pair of metal boots barely resonated through the pouring rain as a pair of figures hike through the mist-cloaked foliage of the Amazon. The one up front was garbed in a cloak-like robe that cut off at around their mid-thigh at the front before wrapping around to a pair of twin-tails that reach his mid-calf at the back. The hood of the robe was drawn up, concealing the wearer’s face in shadow, but it is clear from the figure’s armored appearance that they’re a Reploid. Attached to the back of the robe was a pack-like device, to which a pivoting shoulder cannon was connected on the right side. The weapon sported a long-barrel with a somewhat bulkier chamber, to which a targeting sensor was attached. An armored pauldron adorned the figure’s left shoulder, a large, double-edged blade weapon connected to it on a pivoting hardpoint to make drawing it easier. The cloak itself was a deep crimson with gold edging, with the visible elements of the Reploid’s body with a clearly armored look being a rich, metallic gold in color. By comparison, the figure behind the lead Reploid was clearly female, as her chest stuck out against the front of her more plain, forest green cloak. What elements that identified her as a Reploid being a light beige in color. Unlike her armored companion, she is completely devoid of weaponry, instead having a parrot-like Mechanaloid perched on her shoulder.

“How much further until we reach the outpost?” The lead Reploid asks, their voice confirming them to be male.

“We should reach a cliff that’ll allow us to survey the base in about ten minutes at our current pace,” the female Reploid replies as she glares at the armored back in front of her. “You used to be part of the Rebellion Army. Are you aware of how much I suffered at the Tianna Camp?”

“I am, and for what it is worth, you have my sincerest apologies,” the lead Reploid replies. “Silver Horn was a Maverick in every sense of the word. Every bit the “slimy vermin of the world” that he claimed you and the other former P.O.W.s to be. I had questioned my teacher on the wisdom of assigning someone like that Maverick to the position of warden of the Tiana Camp. He responded by saying that the position was to prevent Silver Horn’s… “personality” from causing problems for the other officers.”

“Even so, you know how I suffered under the Rebellion Army,” the female retorts. “So why is it you came to me, of all Reploids, to be your Operator for this “mission” of yours? Why should I agree to help you with this?”

“Ironically enough, it is your mistrust of me that I approached you for the task of being my Operator for this mission,” the male Reploid replies as he looks back at her from over his shoulder. “You know, as well as I, the dangers of Supra-Force Metal when used by just any Reploid. When Ferham self-destructed, she did not take the Supra-Force Metal piece she took from Redips with her. Instead, her death split the Supra-Force Metal into eight fragments. Fragments which are now scattered throughout the world, just waiting for someone to find them. Imagine, if you will, what would happen if some desperate Reploid stumbled upon one or more of the fragments, or, God forbid, if Dr. Weil got his scheming claws upon them. The tragedy of Giga City would happen all over the world if the latter were to pass.”

“You’ve made your point,” the Operator Reploid interrupts, her tone clipped at the mention of what happened at Giga City after Epsilon had been defeated. “That still doesn’t mean I trust you, though. What do you plan to do with the Supra-Force Metal once you’ve collected all eight fragments? Do you intend to try rebuilding Epsilon’s Rebellion Army?”

“Perish the thought, my dear Operator,” the male Reploid reassures. “Epsilon gave me no such orders. My task, rather, is to preserve the sanctity of his legacy. My orders are to secure the Supra-Force Metal and go underground. Nothing more; nothing less. As I was based on the Commander’s specs, however, I do not intend to simply squander the power of the Supra-Force Metal, even if it has been divided among eight fragments. Indeed, as we secure the Supra-Force Metal fragments, I will use them to help ensure the successful retrieval of all eight pieces.”

“I see. Well, all that planning won’t amount to much until we secure that outpost,” the Operator replies. The duo fell into professional silence after a nod from the male Reploid as they continued their trek. Their entire conversation took about two minutes, so approximately eight minutes later, the foliage parted to reveal a cliff facing, where the male Combat Reploid in the lead rested one foot upon a small, nearby boulder and leaned against it as he gazed down at the base below. The Operator Reploid came to a stop beside her companion, and followed his gaze down onto the outpost nestled within a patch of artillery-blasted forest.

Walls of reinforced Ceratanium alloy that stood a good ten meters tall, watchtowers fitted with automated anti-infantry turrets spaced throughout the perimeter just behind the walls for blanket protection, mind-controlled Reploid patrolling along the battlements; Mechanaloid war machines patrolling ground level, ranging from bipedal turrets packing a variety of heavy ordinance, to wolf Mechanaloids, and everything in-between. And that was just the outer fortifications of the outpost. At the heart of the base stood the primary Construction Yard, its interior already having been emptied of the pre-prepared building modules. Off to one side stood the two main barracks of the base, each one a pair of prefabricated, steel, tent-like structures standing side-by-side with a raised walkway for a guard to patrol along. Nearby the barracks was a separate armory for maintaining and upgrading infantry equipment. Opposite the barracks was a larger factory for constructing heavier hardware, which the two observing Reploids figured was the reason for the more heavy-duty Mechanaloids milling about the outer perimeter, as well as for the manned Ride Armors guarding the base’s interior.

To the side of the main construction yard facing the main gate to the complex sat a squat building with a decently-sized radar apparatus. The Operator Reploid leaned in and whispered that that building was the main command post for the facility, earning a nod of understanding from her companion. The main bank of power plants were opposite the Command Post relative to the main construction yard.

The Combat Reploid took this all in, then reached into his coat and pulled out a small, wide, cylindrical object that glowed from one end. Flipping it around so that the glowing face of the device was facing him, he looked down at the metal hidden inside, inspecting it for any damages. Said metal, the thickness of a small stack of exceptionally large coins and hexagonal in shape, looked an awful lot like the classic radiation symbol, with a dull grey, metal frame that contained a glowing, yellow, crystal-like substance visible in the center of the frame and between each of the frame’s three “arms”. This was his personal piece of Supra-Force Metal, barely 1/3rd the power of the combined output of the eight Supra Metal fragments now scattered around the world, but every bit as valuable to the Reploid. The device holding it contains the Metal’s awesome power and allows him to safely harness its power to overclock his systems for a time.

“Well, we’re in position for this part of the mission, you can begin whenever,” the Operator Reploid starts. “Do try not to die… Enker Magus.”

The Combat Reploid chuckles lightly and draws back the hood of his cloak, revealing a tanned, youthful face with bright, crimson eyes. Hair like spun obsidian poured down from the withdrawn hood until it reached his shoulders; kept out of his face by what looked like the merging of a headset and an armored forehead protector. “Have a little faith, Nana,” Enker Magus replies as he looks back as his companion as she draws back her cloak’s hood as well, revealing her feminine face and bright pink hair, a streak of white standing out prominently on her fringe. “I would not have approached you if I did not have confidence in our ability to survive and complete this mission. And please, there is little need to use my full name. Just Enker shall suffice.”

Nana shot a mildly annoyed glare at Enker’s back as he pocketed the device again before taking up a loose firing stance as his shoulder cannon swung up, ready to begin the operation. “I don’t think I’ll call you by just your first name for now,” she mutters to herself before tapping a button on the side of her earmuffs, causing them to unfold into her headset and antenna. Giving a faint sigh, she then reached behind her and pulled out a portable terminal while the parrot Mechanaloid, OM-8, flew over to a nearby tree stump and began projecting a tactical map on the display screen that was its belly. “Still, I suppose you do paint a much more agreeable picture of the Rebellion Army than that Maverick, Silver Horn…”

Tapping the side of his headgear, Enker smirked slightly as his targeting system unfolds and projects the holographic interface over his right eye and syncs up with the sniping sensor in his shoulder cannon. When Psyche had first programmed this targeting system, Enker had expected it to throw him off, seeing things from a zoomed-in perspective with only one of his main cameras. Surprisingly, the transition was actually rather seamless and far less debilitating than he’d first assumed. To be true, it had actually helped him considerably when he’d been hunting down a couple of rogue elements within the Rebellion Army. Sighting in on his first target, the watchtowers, Enker prepared for the opening moves of the mission plan. “Force Shot: Silencer, Force Shot: Iron Rot, Force Shot: Brutal x2,” he mutters under his breath, hands glowing a faint blue with energy that takes the form of what appear to be spellcasting circles before similar, albeit larger, sigils appear at either end of the cannon and run the entire length of the weapon, empowering its next shot with the effects he’d chosen. Shifting the aim of his cannon a little to compensate for the wind, Enker double-checks his firing solution, and then triggers the firing sequence.

Nana expected some kind of sharp report from the firing of such an obviously high-powered weapon but, aside from the initial surging sound from whatever Enker had done, the cannon didn’t make a sound nor a flash as the bullet rocketed out of the barrel. As a matter of fact, the only indicator of it being fired was a ghostly blue, tracer-like “line” that quickly faded away as the bullet traveled. Far too quickly for even a Reploid with his mind available to be able to trace the bullet back to where they were unless they were really looking. Nana then saw the bullet impact the main rotary join connecting one of the watchtowers to its gun turret. Again, not a sound from the device, even as it sparked and died.

At this point, Nana couldn’t help but give voice to the questions in her mind. “How did you… do that?” she asks. “I was expecting some kind of report, yet your cannon didn’t even make the muted cough of a suppressor-equipped weapon.”

“My model designation is the Unknown Energy Manipulator: Precision Test Model,” Enker informs his Operator, even as he sights in on the next watchtower protecting the main gate to the complet. Muttering his enhancements to the next shot, he then continued his explanation. “While I do not have the sheer power of the Commander, that was compensated for by granting me a much higher capacity for precise manipulation of Force Metal Energy.”

“So, kind of like Cinnamon and her Force Metal Generator?”

Enker paused for a moment as he fired his shot before replying. “In some ways, yes; in others, not so much,” he admits. “The Nurse Reploid and I have a similar level of control over Force Metal Energy, but we were built for very different… “skill sets'', I guess you could say. I was originally designed for more general-purpose test applications and later optimized for combat when I was actually constructed. Professor’s Gaudile’s daughter, on the other hand, is far more support-oriented than someone made for combat like myself, and her Generator easily makes the girl superior when it comes to transmuting Force Metals. What she can do in mere moments with the aid of the Generator would take me exceptionally longer due to my lack of such specialized equipment.”

“Hmm… perhaps the Professor would be willing to help with that if you asked?” Nana proposes. “He did offer us a safe haven at his lab if we ever needed it.”

“Something to discuss with him when we have a chance, though I do not expect him to readily agree,” Enker replies as he sights in and readies another sniper shot. “The good professor is quite the pacifist, and will almost certainly worry that I would misuse his invention.”

“Very true, Professor Gaudile is quite protective of his work,” Nana sighs before looking at the parrot Mechanaloid’s tactical map. She then looks back to Enker. “Both defensive watchtowers whose fields of fire cover the main gate have been disabled. At this point, all you need to deal with are the sentries patrolling the ground and walls.”

“Which is a simple matter of seizing the initiative with a surprise attack,” Enker replies as he rises from his firing stance, his cannon swinging down to its resting position once more as he stands upright. Enker then reaches into his coat and draws the Supra-Force Metal containing device once more. “A relatively simple task if I tap into the energies of my Amplifier Armament.”

“Are you sure?” Nana asks, worried. “I know that there’s Supra-Force Metal in there; a large piece, with an output 1/3rd that of a full unit of the substance. That’s well over double the output of the fragments you’re hunting. What if the energy is too much for you to handle?”

“That is exactly what the Amplifier Armaments are for, Nana: they act as a battery and focus, allowing me to harness more Force Metal Energy than I can safely handle on my own,” Enker reassures. “Moreover, the three Supra-metal Drive Focus units are, in essence, the first of my Amplifier Armaments to be perfected. The Commander himself created them for me. I have thoroughly trained in their use, and have full confidence in my ability to compensate for any potential backlash. The only true danger the Foci pose to me is if I use them directly to overclock my body’s core parameters; otherwise, they are simply a focus that allow me to use the power of Supra-Force Metal for various applications. For instance, this Focus, the Supra-metal Drive Focus unit-01, aka: Star Furnace, can be used for various energy-based offensive applications through the accumulation of both thermal and solar radiation.”

“If you’re sure,” Nana replies, her worries mollified somewhat by his explanation of the device in his hand, this “Amplifier Armament” as he calls it. “Regardless, do be careful. If using the SDFs to empower you directly is the only way for the energies of the Supra-Force Metal to pose a danger to you, then I want you to promise me that you won’t use it in such a way without my expressed authorization.”

Enker chuckles softly as a wistful smile forms on his face. “Ferham said something similar when she presented me with the first of the completed SDFs,” he reveals before turning to look at Nana and nodding. “Very well then. On my honor as the sole surviving member of the Rebellion Army, I swear that I will not interface with the SDFs directly without prior authorization. Authorization which only you are able to grant for the duration of our partnership, Nana.”

That earned Enker a slight blush from Nana, who could only blink in surprise from how easily he acquiesced to her demand, as well as the conviction in his tone as he did so. Enker couldn’t help but mentally remark on both how far Reploid technology had come in the scant 100+ years they’d been around to actually allow Reploids the ability to blush, and how Nana actually looked rather cute when she was flustered. ‘Then again, we’re both Giga City natives,’ Enker thinks to himself as he turns and, with a light hop, starts sliding down the cliff wall down to ground level. ‘Thanks to the ambient levels of Force Metal Energy being much higher there than anywhere else in the world, combined with the known effects it has on Reploid construction, Reploids who spend a significant amount of time back home tend to be just a bit more human-like than Reploids from the mainland who don’t stay for long. Even Animal-based Reploids like Professor Gaudille become more like humans with enough exposure to ambient Force Metal Energy, if only in personality and intellect.’

Once he reached ground level, Enker rolled to bleed off momentum before climbing to his feet again. After making sure he still had the SDF-1 in hand, Enker strode up the small hill nearby that would be where he would launch his assault, the rain washing away any mud that might have clung to his chassis or coat from his roll. Once he’d reached the crest of the hill, Enker planted his right foot atop a nearby rock big enough for the task.

Lightning flashed around Enker as his glowing, crimson gaze lay on the gate before him, coat billowing out behind him as the wind picked up. Even as this happened, rain turned to hail around him before hissing into steam as the invisible energies swirling around Enker quickly vaporized the frozen water. Before long, a distortion began to become visible around the Focus, the swirling energies beginning to coalesce as the energy manipulator brought his Amplifier Armament up and aimed it at the gate. As the energies began to condense even more, Enker adjusted the thermal swirling chaotically around the Reploid. Chaos gave way to order. A roiling torrent of heat gave way to searing plasma as fire began to form in the air around Enker and converge, condensing and compressing until a miniature star shone before the Star Furnace, ready for launch.

“Alright, Enker Magus, your objective is to breach that gate and then secure the outpost. Start with disabling the power grid; then work your way around the compound before making your way to the main construction yard,” Nana instructs via comms before looking at the chronometer displayed in her portable terminal. “Commence frontal assault on my mark…" Enker waits with bated breath as Nana watches the chronometer tick away the seconds. Then, like the toll of death's bell, the chronometer read “8:00:00” at the exact same time that Nana gave the order. “Mark!” Not even a second after the command was given, Enker attacks, the miniature star erupting into a focused beam of fiery plasma as it races for the gate to the facility…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, Enker's mission has officially begun! And what's this? It looks like Enker's had the foresight to bring along some technical expertise in the form of Nana, the system operator from Command Mission! Anywho, I'm splitting this mission up into parts since nobody particularly enjoys staring down a seemingly endless wall of text. I certainly don't, at least. When I get around to posting the next part, Enker's assault on the outpost will begin in earnest. Oh, and obligatory disclaimer: I only own Enker. The Mega Man series as a whole belongs to Capcom. Until next time, this is Spiceracksargent001: signing off!

**Author's Note:**

> I blame my overactive imagination for this. Hello, ladies and gentlement, Spiceracksargent001 here, with a brand-new fanfic. This is just a prologue, sort of setting up what's going to be happening in future chapters. Also, I've decided to do something a little different. This fanfic will be posted here, on my dA account, as well as my account over on fanfiction.net, so if anyone is interested in following this story there, as well as checking out my other works, you can head over to my account there to see what else I'm writing/have written thus far. And before anyone asks, yes. This is going to be set during the Elf Wars following the events of Command Mission, so if you've played neither Megaman X Command Mission nor the Megaman Zero series as a whole, chances are you're gonna be pretty lost going into this. I highly recommend you've at least played one or the other, though Command Mission will definitely provide a lot more context for my OC, Enker Magus, as he goes from battlefield to battlefield, hunting for the Supra-Force Metal fragments scattered by Ferham.


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